I guess there comes a time when all of your gods fail you, and this time it has happened to me. Unlike bands like At the Gates and Carcass, who left at their creative peaks and left behind inimitable legacies, Poland’s Behemoth have unfortunately crafted an ugly pock mark upon their otherwise pristine reputation by releasing this go-nowhere release entitled DEMIGOD.

Now I don’t want you to assume that I’m just one of those disgruntled fans who decides to jump shit whenever a band decides to experiment with stylistic changes. No, I have loved Behemoth since their pitch black debut, FROM THE PAGAN VASTLANDS, and have been a faithful follower ever since. That is, until I was dealt the unabashed and unashamed Nile-worship that is DEMIGOD.

The tasteful incorporation of Death Metal influences into Behemoth’s initial Black Metal framework has resulted in some brilliant material, including such fine lps as SATANICA and 2002’s breakthrough ZOS KIA CULTUS release, but this is just too much. The music here, while standard, just does not stand up to Behemoth’s level of quality, instead preferring to dwell within the stacks of Karl Sander’s unused Nile passages.

Endless, mind-numbing blast beats permeate this record like a sieve, and just bore the listener to death, with no trace of the amazing feeling which was so amazingly prevalent on each one of the band’s releases up until this point. This breaks my heart, because I truly think that Behemoth can be one of the genre’s foremost and brightest bands. Mainman Nergal’s capacity for creative greatness truly knows no bounds, and to see him release such blatant plagiarism (even if the results are occasionally impressive-see the track “Conquer All”), is just so disheartening.

Of course, this release is selling like hotcakes, and everyone seems to be buying into yet another original act falling victim to the current trend of the day (see: shitty American Death Metal, exhibit A being Nile). As for myself, I’m going to pretend this release never happened, and delude myself into thinking that this band broke up after ZOS KIA CULTUS. Behemoth is dead to me.